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Monday, 24 February 2014

US PRESSURE FOR SWAZI REFORMS

The United States has made it perfectly clear to Swaziland:
make democratic reforms by May or lose a preferential trade agreement.

An estimated 20,000 Swazi people could lose their jobs in
the textile industry if the US acts.

But, we should not expect King Mswati III, sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch, to care: every time in the past the
international community has told him to democratise the kingdom, he has ignored
them. There’s no reason to suppose this time will be different.

The United States has given Swaziland until 15 May 2014 to
make significant changes to laws in the kingdom that restrict political and
workers’ rights.

At stake is Swaziland’s continued ability to export textile
goods to the US without having to pay tariffs under the Africa Growth
Opportunity Act (AGOA).

US Ambassador to Swaziland Makila James told
local media that Swaziland had been given eight years to comply with the
requirements but nothing significant had happened. Now, things had to change. ‘We
are not negotiating. The terms are clear,’ she told the Observer Sunday newspaper.

The
Observer reported, ‘Listing the
conditions, she said they include full passage of amendments to the Industrial
Relations Act; full passage of amendments to the Suppression of Terrorism Act
(STA); full passage of amendments to the Public Order Act; full passage of
amendments to sections 40 and 97 of the Industrial Relations Act relating to
civil and criminal liability to union leaders during protest actions; and
establishing a code of conduct for the police during public protests.’

She added that there needed to be greater accountability of
the police force in Swaziland. ‘There is a need to give police better guidance
so they can do proper law enforcement.’

The Observer
estimated that if AGOA benefits were removed from Swaziland 20,000 jobs would
be lost in the textile industry as firms moved out of the kingdom to other
countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region that continued to have preferential
tariff agreements with the US.

The US has been criticising the lack of democracy in
Swaziland for several years. In a public statement in April 2013, the US
Embassy in Swaziland said it had ‘deep concern’ about the way police
engaged in ‘acts of intimidation and fear’ against people seeking their political
rights.

The statement came after armed police, acting without a
court order, barricaded a restaurant in Manzini to stop people attending a
public meeting to discuss the national election in Swaziland.

The US embassy said it had deep concern about the manner in
which representatives of political organisations and lawyers for human rights
were treated by police.

The police blockade of the restaurant took place on 12 April
2013 and was intended to mark the 40th anniversary of the Royal Decree in 1973
by King Sobhuza II that tore up the constitution and allowed the king to
introduce any law he wished and to change existing ones.

The decree has never been rescinded and his son, Mswati III
today rules Swaziland as an absolute monarch.

The US embassy said it was, ‘[C]oncerned that a group of
people were prevented from entering a restaurant, where they had planned to
hold their meeting and were forcibly removed from the premises by police’.

The statement added that the 2005 Swaziland Constitution
guaranteed freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

It further said Swazi security forces had a duty to protect
the rights of citizens to, ‘communicate ideas and information without
interference’.

This was not the first time the US embassy in Swaziland has
criticised the Swaziland ruling regime. A year earlier in April 2012 it said, ‘We urge the Swazi government to take the necessary steps to ensure
the promotion and protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of all
Swazi citizens as outlined in the Swazi constitution, including freedom of conscience,
of expression, of peaceful assembly and association, and of movement.’

The statement went on, ‘The United States government is
deeply concerned about increasing infringements on freedom of assembly, as
evidenced by the recent actions taken by Swazi security forces to prevent
peaceful citizens from gathering for a prayer
meeting on Saturday, April 14 in Manzini as well as reports
of those same forces preventing people from gathering in groups of more
than two people in Manzini and Mbabane on April 11 and 12.’

There is little expectation that Swaziland will comply with
the latest US requirements. In the past King Mswati has refused to make
democratic reforms in return for assistance. In 2011 he refused to accept a R2.4
billion (US$ 240 million) donation from South Africa to help his bankrupt
kingdom and avert a humanitarian crisis because it had demands for democratic
reform attached.